3,985 Shares in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Purchased by Prospera Private Wealth LLC

Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $535,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Paychex by 155.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508,681 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 19.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $279,351,000 after purchasing an additional 384,184 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.8% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $212,267,000 after purchasing an additional 113,856 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.2% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,703,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $202,016,000 after purchasing an additional 114,132 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.6% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $210,282,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 in the last 90 days. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Paychex Stock Up 0.8 %

PAYX opened at $141.83 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $139.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.65. The company has a market cap of $51.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.58%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.